


Ante Meridiem

by orphan_account



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Explorers of Darkness & Explorers of Sky
Genre: Amnesia, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Retelling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-12-07 23:25:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20984123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Let me tell you the tale of how a small rebellion came from a broken future that saved the past. The untold story of how bravery overcame fear, and despite knowing what to come, the love to give everything to bring back life.It started when the world stood at a standstill. A human and a Grovyle decided to bring it upon themselves to become the unsung hero.How the human befriended pokémon far and wide.How a Riolu gathered the courage to become so much greater than what he was.AU Retelling of the events of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorer of Sky.





	Ante Meridiem

**Author's Note:**

> _Oh hey I’m writing a story I shouldn’t be writing._  
  
This rating is probably gonna go up to T later on for the mere fact I cuss like a sailor in real life, and it tends to follow through in my writing... but so far its pretty PG. Compared to literally everything I write, this is pretty tame. I'm proud of myself:)
> 
> **Confession**: I wrote the Epilogue for this story before I wrote the prologue, so I’m sort of working forward and backwards at the same time, and fixing little minute details as I go on. (But I won’t know how many chapters are total until I meet in the middle.)
> 
> I _strongly_ recommend listening to [PMD2 — Through the Sea of Time — Orchestral Remix by OWN EYE MUSIC](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di7Ycfca4Ag) but re-uploaded by **Video Internet Archive**. This story would not come to be without that remix, among others. Mystery Dungeon: Explorer of Sky (because at this point we as a fandom ignore Time and DARKNESS, _because lmfao of course I'd call it Space instead of Darkness_, in favor of Sky) has such a beautiful sound track that I think this version does it so much justice. I’ve played the game through almost a dozen times and I still feel as if the replay value is high.
> 
> So I guess this story is kind of a love letter to the game I love so much.
> 
> **Characters and tags will be added as the story progresses. I also have a specific ending in mind that I won’t spoil with a content warning tag until we cross that bridge.**
> 
> **PS**: I truly debated making this character a _self-insert_ based off of the memories I had from my first play through of it so many years ago. I quickly decided that it wouldn’t serve my purpose, but there are a lot of little references from that time of life. The team name I use, **Team MoonRise** is actually based off of an old username I used to go by. It’s one of many references, but I thought you’d like a little easter egg thrown in there. (Especially the ironic implications because of the name.)
> 
> **PSS**: The prologue is short, but chapter one and onward will be around 1500-2000 words each. Possibly even more because I had been writing closer to 3000 words lately, but I'm gonna go with a safe estimate of the before mentioned count. _Just so ya'll know_
> 
> **PSSS**: This is the first time I haven't posted chapter one followed a prologue, so... ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ Usually I don't give a schedule because _lmfao_ but I'm gonna try to update every other week for now.
> 
> _Just... just please enjoy ya'll_
> 
> **EDIT 10/15/19**: So uh, big oof. Like I had said at the ending note before I edited it out and replaced it, I finished this at 2AM and then promptly posted it without literally checking it. To the thirteen people who had the unfortunate pleasure of looking at this mess with incomplete thoughts because I literally posted without taking the time to go back and make sure I English'd it right, I'm sorry. Here is the prologue as it should've been originally published. Any and all grammar mistakes are still my own, but it shouldn't be offensively bad.

_“Let me tell you the tale of how a small rebellion came from a broken future that saved the past. The untold story of how bravery overcame fear, and despite knowing what was to come, the love to give everything to bring back _life_._

_“It started when the world stood at a standstill. A human and a Grovyle decided to bring it upon themselves to become the unsung hero._

_“How the human befriended pokémon far and wide._

_“How a Riolu gathered the courage to become so much greater than what he was.”_

_. . .  
_

_“How do I know this, you ask?_

_“I will tell, in due time, but for now let us hear the story of the human named Olivia, the Riolu named Aeron, Grovyle, and how they crossed time itself to stop its end.”_

• • •

There had once been a time, long ago, when Olivia’s parents still roamed the earth. They told her tales about a time before even _they_ had been born, given to them by their own parents. A time when time flowed like a raging river. Relentless, violent, overflowing; but it never stopped.

They told of a time when weather changed with seasons. How trees would bear fruit and shed leaves. How some days would be longer than the others, and how once a year some parts of the world would have sunlight every day and light. How the sun would be unbelievably harsh and hot in some places, but so cold and gentle in others.

A time when both people and pokémon lived in harmony. When fear wasn’t prevalent.

But in this dark future e_veryone_ feared. Water didn’t flow, plants didn’t grow, and famine and thirst hit everyone hard. Not even the Mad King of Time himself would do anything about it. He promised safety for his servants, but it was really just a suspended state where hunger didn’t hurt _as much_ and their mouth wasn’t _as parched_.

At first it started with a handful of people and a handful of pokémon. They died because they starved, because they couldn’t _drink_. The Mad King did nothing. Why _would_ he? Even as humans and pokémon slaughtered each other because of desperation and fear, he did nothing to stop the chaos that ruled the lands.

It was why she would go back in time and stop this horrendous future, or die trying.

Olivia was one of the last humans to exist. A lonely existence where the only humans _she_ had known about where her own parents. For a long time, her only friend and trusted partner had been Grovyle.

In their first encounter, hungry and scared, they found solace in their shared troubles. Through their growing friendship, they discovered she had an ability. Through that ability, they found Celebi — who like them — was tired of the horrible future they lived in.

It had taken a long time for them to make a plan… to gather the information they needed… to _survive_… but they did. All they had was time in their disgusting future.

It was only now — with knowledge and determination — that they would put their plan into motion. And already both Olivia and Grovyle had run into their first and biggest problem.

“_Seriously?_” Olivia turned around in haste, staring at the dark opening of the cave they had just exited. “How are they on us already?”

“You have to ask?” Grovyle stopped to stare Olivia, the brief thought of _humans_ smugly running through his thoughts. “We don’t have time to stop and contemplate, let’s go!”

Olivia let out a groan, but followed behind Grovyle. He was, in comparison to humans, quick and nimble. He was able to make sharp turns and scale walls and trees easily. Olivia, on the other hand, often trailed behind.

Grovyle made a conscious to be near the human, glancing behind him every so often to see if the black-haired girl still kept up. He would never admit it out loud, but he would be sad to see her become skewered meat for the vicious pokémon that chased them.

(And, of course, that Olivia was his best friend.)

Olivia was fatigued, though. They both where. They had been on a constant move from the moment they determined they would change their future. Especially when it didn’t take too long for the Mad King of Time to discover their plot and send his minions after them.

At the very least, the more they ran the less of the bone-chilling laughter from Sableye they could hear.

Fear and stress overpowered the fatigue that had long made itself known to Olivia and Grovyle. It wasn’t until the craggy background made way for a plateau clearing that fear and stress became determination and hope.

It was their final stop to finally reach the past. The one where Celebi would meet them and open the gates back to time.

But, of course, she wasn’t there. As Olivia and Grovyle panted to the middle of the clearing, they turned their heads to the open field. Celebi would never hide in plain sight.

“Oh my _god_,” Olivia groaned through exhausted pants. “Where is she?”

“Somewhere,” Grovyle answered dryly and tired. “Displaced in time, most likely.”

“_Displaced?_” Blinking into existence, Celebi crossed her arms. She childishly puffed her pink cheeks while staring at the two before her. “I’ve been here making sure it’s safe for _you_ two, and you come waltzing in here claiming that I’ve been _displaced_?”

Celebi then turned her playful pout into a smile. “But I like you, Grovyle, so I’ll let it slide.”

There was a small pause of silence as Olivia looked behind them to see if the pokémon they were running from had caught up with them yet. Sableye had become the new bane of her existence, and the sooner she got to the past and away from _them_, the better.

“We don’t have much time,” Celebi confirmed Olivia’s unspoken thoughts. “But I can answer a few questions before you leave, at least.”

“Tell me we’ll have time to rest when we get there,” Olivia huffed.

Celebi stared blankly at Olivia before turning to Grovyle.

“How close to the Time Gears will we be?” Grovyle asked.

“A few days trip at best. I can’t control the location,” Celebi answered thoughtfully.

But a sudden chill ran through them all. Their short time had ceased. Celebi waved her hand towards her left, and like what had happened to herself earlier, a black and silver portal materialized from nothing.

“You two will be there at least a year before the tower collapses, maybe even more. I’m not good with dates.” It would’ve been funny if they weren’t being hunted. “Just go while you can!”

The chatter of teeth clanking against each other as the distinct sound of metal slicing against metal grated the air. Behind them, colder air pushed against their backs.

“**_It seems you’re trying to escape._**”

“Go!” Celebi yelled.

Grovyle grabbed Olivia’s hand, and they both disappeared into the portal.

**Author's Note:**

> _So... I finally edited it._ Now it looks presentable ^3^ Honestly, this is how it should've been _before_ I posted it... but, 2AM brain fog ya'll. Anyway, I didn't change much outside of like... rewording a paragraph and then just fixing glaring errors. I also conveyed thoughts a bit more. I also saved over the original prologue with the newer edits so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Hopefully, to the newer people who read this, ya'll never see the travesty of what the original was. To the ones that saw it, I'm sorry.
> 
> **I usually edit as I write and then go back for a final edit before posting.** (Though **disclaimer** if you read any stories and still see mistakes... at that point I've read and reread whatever I've posted over a dozen times, and because I know what _I_ meant, I don't always pick up those mistakes. So if you see them do point them out.)


End file.
